


Car Wash

by distractionpie



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Car Wash - Freeform, M/M, Summer, Water Fight, Wet Clothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 15:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10970313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Joe is working at a fundraising carwash - he's kept busy.Inspired bythis prompt.





	Car Wash

It’s already getting uncomfortably hot by 10am and Joe is starting to wish for shade, but that’s not an option right now because he’s one hundred percent committed to doing as much as possible to help with the annual fundraising car-wash for shelter where he works as a vet tech.

They’re set up just outside their facilities, a homemade sign offering the temporary service, and Joe knows it’s been promoted around town too. There's room on the lot for six washes at once - some of their team are only helping out for part of the day, because they're busy or because they're needed to keep the place running, but Joe's been there since set up and has already offered to be the one to close things up.

They've been pretty busy so far - the fact that it's turned out to be a scorcher of a day working out in their favour.

 Luz had come around with his beat-up ford shortly after they’d opened for the day, with a grin and twice as much cash as he’d needed, so Joe figures he’s been recommending them when he recognises Penkala's car pulling in, but when he leans down towards the window, it's Luz grinning up at him from the driver’s seat.

 “Why’ve you got Penk’s car?” he asks and Luz beams.

“I told him there was a good car wash in town and he said it was a shame he couldn’t come what with working all day and all, so I offered to be a pal and take his in for him.”

 Joe nods, because fuck knows Luz is always eager to stick his nose in other people’s business, and sets to work. Once again Luz pays over the price they’ve set, but when Joe tries to hand him change Luz just rolls up his windows and sticks out his tongue before driving off.

He cleans three more cars before Malarkey’s oddly sensible station wagon turns into their lot. Two other cleaners approach, but the vehicle just pulls to one side until Joe’s space is clear and it can drive up to him.

It's Luz. Again.

 Joe sighs. "Seriously? Do you have some secret ambition to work in valet parking that I've not heard about?"

The tuft of hair hanging down over Luz's face bounces as he shakes his head. "Nah, but you know how it is. Everyone's so busy with work or school that they don't have time for luxuries like getting their cars washed, so I figured I'd do some people a favour.”

His expression is so innocent and his demeanour screams sincere, but Joe knows him better – there’s nothing more suspicious than an apparently innocent George Luz. He can’t _prove_ anything, but he makes sure to eye George with a suitable level of suspicion through the windows as he sets to soaping the car up and hosing it down.

While he’s waiting for it to dry he peels his tank top over his head, at this point it's so soaked that all it's doing is sticking to him uncomfortably and making his skin itch as odd patches dry out to a soapy crust only to be drenched again shortly after. The he sets to waxing a polishing the car, sweat dripping down his chest under the baking midday sun.

George isn’t chatty as he pays, is fidgety and positively distracted, but Joe puts it out of his mind, knowing he only has one more car to do before it’s time to take his lunchbreak.

 He’s just getting back from said break when his eyes are assaulted by the sight of a pink bug with eyelashes affixed to its headlights waiting in his space.

 He’s not sure who he’s expecting to see when he leans down to look in the window, but somehow he’s not surprised at all when it’s Luz looking back at him once again.

"Where the fuck did you get this?" Nobody Joe knows would drive a car like that, except for perhaps Luz himself - and Joe's already seen Luz's beat up ford today so he knows damn well that Luz hasn’t suddenly upgraded his car.

"Skip's girlfriend," Luz says brightly.

"Faye?" Joe hasn't met her yet, but from the descriptions he's heard he'd had the impression she had more sense than that. "Why is Faye letting you drive her car?"

"Because she wants it looking flash for when she picks Skip up for their date tonight, but she's still gotta do her hair and stuff so she needed my help to make time."

Joe stares at him. "It's not dirty," he points out.

George shrugs, waving a crumpled ten-dollar bill in his direction. "Make it shine," he says, and Joe rolls his eyes, but what the heck, ten bucks is ten bucks and it’s for a good cause.

The bug leaves gleaming, and there is another hour of cars coming in and out before business slowly starts to wind down. One by one the others depart and Joe begins to clean up as the sun dips low in the sky, bathing the lot in a golden glow. He’s just about to start packing up the last station when he sees a familiar ford roll through the gate.

"What the..."

Just this morning that thing had left his hands so cleaned up you almost couldn't tell that it was being held together by its own rust, but now there's dirt caked across the bumper and splattered up as far as the windows.

"...fuck've you been doing?" he finished as Luz pulls in beside him.

Luz doesn't look the slightest bit ashamed. "I had to drop some stuff off at Dick's place, you know how that road up to it is basically a dirt track! And, hey! You've put your shirt back on."

That's true, and at this time of year it oscillated between cracked dirt and dust, and a thick sucking mud depending on the weather. Most of the guys don't even bother taking their cars up there anymore, just park at the end of the street and walk the last part to save themselves the trouble. "Yeah, it's getting colder," he points out, nodding to where the sun is sinking down towards the horizon. "How many more people's cars have you offered to bring in? Because was gonna start packing up soon."

George waves a hand dismissively. "Faye's was the last one. It's just that then I really did need to drop Dick's strimmer back and... well you can see how that turned out."

Joe can. “You really couldn’t keep the damn thing clean for one day.”

“Nope,” George says, leaning over, and offering up a fistful of coins.

Joe shakes his head. "I can’t take your money, it wouldn’t be right, seeing as you've paid up like half our funding goal already and also I’m supposed to be closing up."

"Well if you're not doing this in an official capacity..." George says, hopping out of the car. "Mind if I get stuck in."

Joe grins and tosses a sponge in his direction - it sails straight through his hands and hits his chest dead centre with a satisfying splat. "She's all yours," he says, pulling himself up to sit on the wall.

"What?" George pulls a over the top expression of shock. "C'mon, that's not what I mean. I was offering to help."

Joe shakes his head. "No, this is me tapping out. There's your sponge, all the soap and wax and shit is clearly labelled," he waves to where the supplies are stacked. "Time to get a taste of your own medicine."

"I paid you fair and square," George whines, but he's already grabbing the hosepipe, lifting it so that the spray sends dirt sliding off the hood.

Leaning back, he watches. George isn’t a very efficient car washer – mostly just slopping soapy water about – but it’s enough to get the surface layer of mud slicking off in streaks. Once the worst of it is off, Joe is expecting him to go for the sponge to start scrubbing the car down for real, but instead he turns.

"Heeeey, Joe..." he calls, and that's all the warning Joe gets before George has turned the hosepipe in his direction, the spray hitting him hard.

 “What the fuck, Luz?” Joe cries, pushing off the wall and crossing the over to where George stands among the equipment.

"Hey, you were already wet anyway," George yells, voice breaking into a comical shriek as Joe grabs a bucket from the ground and tips the whole lot of the soapy water over his head.

Drenched, his baggy t-shirt is now sticking to his torso and his hair is flattened and sticking wetly to his face as he looks up at Joe through clumped lashes with an air of the utmost betrayal that lasts just long enough for him to grab a soapy sponge and attempt to shove it up Joe's shirt.

"Oh so that's how you wanna play it," Joe growls, seeking out another weapon and coming up blank until he remembers something George's nearest sister had told him once. It was knowledge that Joe has never used before, but right now he thinks George has earned it.

He presses his fingers against George's damp shirt, seeking out his ribs and -

"Oh jesus fuck!" George yells, flailing backwards and dropping the hose. "Tickling is cheating!"

Joe frees up one hand to grab his shirt and make sure he doesn't fall over the hose, and says, "What and you hosing me down was fair play?"

"You looked-- shit-- you looked hot," George protests, between bursts of giggles, slapping ineffectually at Joe.

"I looked hot, did I?" Joe asks as he presses George against the side of the car, where he shakes with laugher, droplets of water flicking off his hair as he tosses his head.

"Yes, I mean no. I mean, not like that, like hot hot because it's sunny and you've been working... But also like that too, I guess," George babbles, as a soap bubble slides down his jaw, dripping off his chin.

"You guess?" Joe asks. "Really? You've spent all day borrowing cars for an excuse to ogle me and you're not even sure if I'm hot?"

“Well what you expecting me to do when you signed up for a sexy car wash?” Luz says with a wicked grin.

“It was just a regular car wash,” Joe protests, but George shakes his head.

“You were shirtless and dripping wet and plastering yourself all over cars – it was a sexy carwash.”

“I wasn’t plastering myself over anything,” Joe argues, “And if you were that interested in sticking around you could have helped out.”

"Yeah, but if I were washing cars I couldn't fully appreciate the sight of you getting all wet and soapy and shirtless like something off of a sexy vet calendar."

"That's not a thing," Joe says and George laughs.

"Oh yes, it is," he claims. "I used to have a subscription."

"A subscription?" Joe asks, then shakes his head. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

George laughs. “Hey, I helped you raise some funds, didn’t I?”

“We could have raised more if you’d actually signed up to help out,” Joe remarks. “You said you were busy today.”

“I was busy. Watching you,” George answers. “Anyway, you wouldn’t have really wanted me helping out.”

“Why’s that?” Joe asks. “Because you’ve have been a fucking nuisance and treated the whole thing as an excuse for a water fight.”

George sticks out his tongue. “I was actually gonna say because you wouldn’t want all those other people getting to see me getting all wet and dirty and bent over their cars as I cleaned them,” he responds.  “But honestly your answer is better.”

Joe rolls his eyes, knowing that whichever scenario was more accurate there were no potential outcomes which wouldn’t have involved him getting distracted by George’s antics. “You know what you have done if you really wanted to be helpful?” he says, “Brought my truck in. It could use a good clean.”

“Well how about I drive you home, then I’ll get right on that,” George says.

Joe leans forward and kisses him. George tastes like soap and there are still rivulets of water running from his hair down his face that now pool in the seal of their lips, but he doesn’t care. “I’m done with cleaning for today,” he mutters when they part.

“Dirty is good too,” George agrees, with a ridiculous smirk, and how is Joe supposed to answer that except by swing his hand along the side of the car and flicking the muddy water up towards George.

“Hey!” George yells, and then, “Oh, it is _on_.”


End file.
